Truck-bolster.



No. 707,656. Patented Aug.-26, I902.

C. VANDERBILT.

TRUCK BDLSTER (Application filed Feb. 17, 1902.)

(No Model.)

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lTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CORNELIUS VANDERBILT, OF NE YORK, N. Y.

TRUCK-BOLSTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 707,656, dated August 26, 1902:

' Application filed February 17, 1902. Serial No. 94,412. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, CORNELIUS VANDERBILT, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the borough of Manhattan, in the city and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Truck-Bolsters, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improved form of truck-bolster which is built up of rolled metal beams securely united and braced at their ends by the spring-seats, which are of a form peculiarly serviceable for the purpose. The bolster is characterized by great strength combined with lightness.

Reference is hereby made to the accompanying drawings, in which-- Figure 1 is a plan, and Fig. 2 a side elevation, of my improved truck-bolster. Fig. 3 is a broken perspective View of one end of the bolster, and Fig. 4: is a perspective view of one of the end pieces or spring-seats.

The bolster comprises two flanged beams 1 1, of rolled metal, preferably steel. In the form shown these beams are channels and are placed back to back and rigidly united by the spring-seats 2 2, side bearing-blocks 3 3, and center piece 4.

The channels 1 1 are cutdown at their ends, as shown, and their webs fit into the grooves 5 between the upstanding lugs 6 of the springseats 2 2 and are securely fastened therein by the bolts or rivets 8. The ends of the springseats are in the form of upstanding walls? 7, and the side edges of these walls are flush with the inner sides of the grooves 5, whereby the ends of the channels are very securely and rigidly held by the spring-seats, which engage both faces of the webs of the channels.

The center piece 4 and bearing-blocks 3 may be of any approved form.

The beams l 1 are of uniform strength-that is, they are cut down in such a way that their strength at each point is approximately pro portional to the stresses which are to be borne at that point. Thus their sectional areas decrease gradually from center to ends, and in this way I obtain a staticallyconstructed bolster. A number of beams of the form described may be economically produced from a single flanged beam by the method covered by Letters Patent No. 684,625, granted to me on the 15th day of October, 1901.

I claim 1. A truck-bolster comprising a plurality of flanged beams secured together by spring seats which engage both faces of the webs of said beams at a plurality of points along their lengths, substantially as described.

2. A truck-bolster comprising a plurality of flanged beams, having their ends cut down by the removal of one flange and a portion of the web, said ends having parallel upper and lower edges and being secured together by spring-seats, substantially as described.

3. A spring-seat for a truck-bolster, comprising a base and upstanding walls forming a plurality of horizontal grooves to receive the webs of bolster-beams, substantially as described.

4. A statically-constructed truck-bolster, comprising a plurality of beams having center portions with 'upper' and lower flanges, intermediate portions whose sectional areas decrease gradually, and end portions formed by cutting away one flange and a portion of the web on a line parallel to the other flange, substantially as described.

5. A spring-seat for a truck-bolster comprising a base having upstanding grooved side walls and upstanding end walls between and flush with said grooves, substantially as described.

CORNELIUS VANDERBILT.

Witnesses:

LoUIs A. SHEPARD, JAMES J. COSGROVE. 

